Residents of Barton House, the Bristol tower block urgently evacuated a month ago amid safety concerns, are worried they will not be allowed back home for the Christmas and new year holidays.
Most of the 400 tenants are staying at a city centre hotel while others have moved in with relatives or friends and a few have refused to leave.
Jon Wisbey, a spokesperson for the tenants, said on Friday: “I can’t see us being back for Christmas. It means a lot of us are going to be stuck here at the Holiday Inn. It looks like Christmas is going to very bleak.
“People think you’re in a hotel having room service but it’s not like that. Personally, me and my flatmate live in a twin room. It’s not too bad. But there are people with mother and father, elderly relative and kids stuck in one small room. There’s cots and beds all over the place.
“The food is barely adequate. Of the 400 tenants at Barton House there’s around 250, 270 here at the Holiday Inn. We’re a good community. We normally get on great but when you have that many people sharing facilities, living cheek by jowl, there can be issues. We have children who are bored to tears stuck in a room with Mum and Dad. One of our tenants said it reminds him of his prison days. We are going stir crazy.”
The chaotic evacuation took place after surveys found the block had not been built to meet the design specifications, meaning it had been unsafe for 65 years. The Bristol mayor, Marvin Rees, said there was “a material risk” to the structure of the block in the event of a fire, explosion or large impact.
Rees has been accused of not listening to residents’ concerns and there were angry scenes at a council meeting this week when some tenants claimed they were not allowed to ask the questions that needed answering, including when the council first knew of the issues with the block, and when they would be allowed back.
In a statement to the meeting, the tenants said they felt they had been “plunged into dark and uncertain times where our very futures hang in the balance”.
They said: “We are a strong and united community that has been 65 years in the making. We are diverse, we are from many different backgrounds, speak many different languages, our ages range from folks in their 80s to a baby born just days before the evacuation, we are of many religions and none. We are teachers, nurses, we are office workers, taxi drivers, bankers and broadcasters. We are many things but what unites us is that we are friends, neighbours and tenants of Barton House.”
The tenants acknowledged that some residents would be frightened to move back but asked for the block – if possible – to be preserved and “not consigned to the dustbin of local history”.
In its last significant public update, at the start of December, the council said the surveys it needed to carry out to decide if people could return were ongoing. It said it had a contract with Holiday Inn to hold the rooms until the end of January. The agreement includes all meals, laundry, cleaning services and other support.
The council said: “The mayor is looking to work with Mr Wisbey and others and will provide an update to residents shortly.”
